The Planning Inspectorate has been plunged into a row over conflicts of interest after thwarting Gatwick airport’s attempts to win rapid approval to build a second runway.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander said last week that she was “minded” to back the airport’s proposals, but was forced to delay her final decision for at least eight months because the plans were rejected by the agency.
Heidi Alexander has expressed support for Gatwick’s plans
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Supporters of Gatwick’s expansion plans say that Kevin Gleeson, the lead official working on the proposals at the Planning Inspectorate, could have been influenced by his wife and son, who worked in prominent positions at local councils that objected to the expansion.
The Planning Inspectorate, an executive agency of the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, shrugged off calls for greater transparency this weekend and refused to confirm details of conflict of interest declarations made by Gleeson.
The body’s five-person “examining authority”, led by Gleeson, blocked the airport’s proposal on the grounds of noise, transport and pollution.
Gleeson’s son, Jamie, was a member of the planning team at Mole Valley council between 2017-21. Mole Valley, which includes the Surrey towns of Leatherhead and Dorking, was one of a number of local authorities to oppose Gatwick’s plans.
Correspondence shows that Jamie Gleeson played a central role in preparing Mole Valley’s opposition.
A letter to the Planning Inspectorate, dated September 30, 2019, sets out the council’s concerns about the second runway and “particular uncertainty regarding the location and scale of a number of parts of the proposed development”.
The airport first proposed expansion in 2013 and started the planning process in 2017
KARL BLACK/ALAMY
Jamie Gleeson is named as the primary contact to whom the Planning Inspectorate should respond.
The second connection of concern to Gatwick’s supporters is Kevin Gleeson’s wife, Kathy O’Leary, who was deputy chief executive of Reigate and Banstead council between 2014-16, and chief operating officer of Tandridge council between 2016-18. Both councils also opposed Gatwick’s expansion plans.
Gatwick airport unveiled initial plans to build a second runway in 2013 and started the planning process in 2017.
The Planning Inspectorate said Gleeson had complied fully with its internal procedures and code of conduct, and completed a declaration of interest form that included all relevant matters. “This was considered as part of the appointment process where all declarations are reviewed prior to appointment,” a spokesman added.
But officials refused to provide further details of precisely what Gleeson declared. “The information contained within this document is not published as it contains information relating to third parties which the inspectorate does not publish,” the spokesman said.
Robert Courts, aviation minister between 2020-22, said: “It is essential that there is full transparency in all decision-making by the Planning Inspectorate and how it came to its initial recommendation to refuse, leading to the current delay to the scheme, to ensure that the decision-making process is not only independent and impartial, but seen to be so.”
Robert Courts, a former aviation minister, called for transparency
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Paul Maynard, transport minister between 2016-20, added: “Given the controversy over the Gatwick application, I am sure the Planning Inspectorate will want to ensure absolutely that the process is seen to be entirely impartial, and that might have involved selecting someone with no ties to declare in the first place.”
The government had widely been expected to give Gatwick the green light last Thursday, as plans to build a second runway would help meet Labour’s push for economic growth.
Gatwick is one of the busiest single-runway airports in the world. Proposals centred on bringing its emergency runway into everyday operation, as well as expanding both terminals, building new piers, taxiways and stands. Unlike Heathrow’s expansion plans, Gatwick’s envisage largely keeping within its current boundaries.
Gatwick’s plans remain largely within its present boundaries
GATWICK AIRPORT
But planning officials rejected Gatwick’s scheme primarily because of increased noise and pollution, as well as failing to meet minimum targets on the number of people that arrive at the airport by public transport.
Alexander could have overruled the Planning Inspectorate outright, but the government is said to have come to the conclusion that doing so risked provoking a judicial review that would deem it illegal. Delaying the transport secretary’s final decision gives all sides more time to agree a compromise, although local campaigners have vowed to challenge any future decision that gives Gatwick the green light in the High Court.
Former Conservative MP Courts, a trained barrister, praised Labour’s Alexander for her approach. He said: “Gatwick’s second runway plan is a vital part of the UK’s aviation future. It is to the transport secretary’s credit that she has issued a ‘minded to’ decision letter, steering a path between overruling the planning inspectorate — with inevitable judicial review — and blocking the scheme.”